Venue for August 10 - Arlington

[JolyB]

It should come as no surprise that we will be going to Arlington Park this Saturday for Arlington Million Day. The three Grade 1 races (the Million, the Beverly D and the Secretariat) were drawn on Tuesday and look like a showdown between the Chad Brown and Aidan O'Brien stables. The remainder of the card will be drawn early this afternoon. I'll post the full particulars of our contest schedule once that has been announced.

The cost of just about everything has inflated dramatically since John Henry won the inaugural Arlington Million in 1981. Yet the Million is still run for a million. Not a purse to sneeze at, but today there are quite a few races with purses that equal or exceed that. But the race has still drawn Bricks and Mortar, perhaps the best turf horse in the country, last year's winner in Robert Bruce, plus Hunting Horn and Magic Wand from the Coolmore stable and an intriguing entry in Pivoine, the Diamond Jubilee winner.

The Beverly D includes Chad Brown's Sistercharlie, along with Competitionofideas and Thais, who will battle O'Brien's Fleeting and the cross-entered Magic Wand. The Secretariat also has a Brown v. O'Brien matchup, with Chad entering Fog of War and Valid Point and Aiden sending out Never No More and Van Beethoven. There are some others who should have a say in the outcome, including Faraway Kitten, who should not be too faraway at the wire.

With that kind of star power in the feature races, I can live with what might be some rather bland offerings on the undercard.

I believe that NBC will have network coverage of the Million on Saturday afternoon at 5:00 Eastern.